I use them frequently to organize hierarchical information.
They are helpful because you can hide information under a given topic to momentarily free your mind from those details. Using a mind mapping software is thereby mandatory for this.
Issues come when the information forms a graph and not just a tree. Refactoring the information to keep it maximally a tree now leads to insights and is my key reason to use mind maps.
Comments
I use them frequently to organize hierarchical information.
They are helpful because you can hide information under a given topic to momentarily free your mind from those details. Using a mind mapping software is thereby mandatory for this.
Issues come when the information forms a graph and not just a tree. Refactoring the information to keep it maximally a tree now leads to insights and is my key reason to use mind maps.
I use XMind.